The Web in the Sea – Jung, Sophia and the Geometry of the Soul

Geometry is hidden in the symbolism of all religions. In this magical book, Alice O. Howell weaves a ramble on the sacred Isle of Iona with a meditation on the geometrical forms we encounter everyday. With the mediating help of Sophia, the divine feminine principle of Wisdom, she shows how we can decode the inner meaning of shapes, numbers, and other symbols through intuition, to enrich our experience of living and deepen our appreciation of the mystery of form.

A Companion to Howell's other work; The Dove in the Stone, this book is illustrated with fifty line drawings and figures and includes an entertaining workbook - Sophia's Mondayschool - with exercises guiding readers in exploring for themselves the mysteries of sacred geometry.

From Chapter IV - 'Dark within Light, Light within Dark' (p. 43):

" The Celts have a lovely image called the 'Tir-nan-Og' - Land of Youth, the Blessed Isles, the Happy Isles. Each of us has such an island within our Souls - a beautiful space within us to visit. I remember when I was a teacher of children, I assigned a composition exercise called 'My Island'. Without any hesitation, the children, then about ten and eleven years old, happily began imaging their island. Each made a map and peopled it according to their wishes. Animals, birds, fish, trees, mountains, and springs appeared miraculously full-blown from the unconscious of these children. It was as if they carried a paradise within them, just the right size.

The Happy Isles are an archetypical place, and I mention this, lest anyone get discouraged at the thought that they cannot travel to Scotland and the Hebrides - to Iona, the Isle of the Dove. We have our own Iona within us. A lovely exercise to give oneself as one is falling asleep is to image what one's Happy Isle would be like. "